"He told us, 'You seen what it takes to be a championship team,' " defensive end Antonio Smith says. "You've seen it up close. Now, are you going to do it? Are you going to commit?' "

I agree with the message, but Gary better point that mirror at himself too. He likes letting up in games allowing teams to catch up. He needs to gain that Patriot way of stepping on opponents throats. I hope this team takes the "[inappropriate/removed] whipping" as Andre said, and learns from it. Quit acting cocky and focus on the goal, a championship, nothing else matters.

Umm both loses this year were butt kickings and had nothing to do with Kubiak letting up and not going for the throat. He was in the right players need to look in the mirror. Its not coaching when teams get there butt handed to them the way the Texans did Monday night._________________

Umm both loses this year were butt kickings and had nothing to do with Kubiak letting up and not going for the throat. He was in the right players need to look in the mirror. Its not coaching when teams get there butt handed to them the way the Texans did Monday night.

Unless you watch houston every game you won't know what I'm talking about

"He told us, 'You seen what it takes to be a championship team,' " defensive end Antonio Smith says. "You've seen it up close. Now, are you going to do it? Are you going to commit?' "

I agree with the message, but Gary better point that mirror at himself too. He likes letting up in games allowing teams to catch up. He needs to gain that Patriot way of stepping on opponents throats. I hope this team takes the "[inappropriate/removed] whipping" as Andre said, and learns from it. Quit acting cocky and focus on the goal, a championship, nothing else matters.

one thing about Kubiak is that he ALWAYS takes final responsibility when the team loses_________________
^S/o to El Ramster for the amazing sig

I agree with the message, but Gary better point that mirror at himself too. He likes letting up in games allowing teams to catch up. He needs to gain that Patriot way of stepping on opponents throats. I hope this team takes the "[inappropriate/removed] whipping" as Andre said, and learns from it. Quit acting cocky and focus on the goal, a championship, nothing else matters.

For what exactly are you calling Kubs out for?
What could he have done better in your opinion?

Seems to me you are always calling him out for no reason at all._________________

"He told us, 'You seen what it takes to be a championship team,' " defensive end Antonio Smith says. "You've seen it up close. Now, are you going to do it? Are you going to commit?' "

I agree with the message, but Gary better point that mirror at himself too. He likes letting up in games allowing teams to catch up. He needs to gain that Patriot way of stepping on opponents throats. I hope this team takes the "[inappropriate/removed] whipping" as Andre said, and learns from it. Quit acting cocky and focus on the goal, a championship, nothing else matters.

one thing about Kubiak is that he ALWAYS takes final responsibility when the team loses

Was going to come in and comment as such, but I agree - the one thing we can't criticize Kubiak on is his willingness to take the brunt of the criticism, even when it's not his to take. Indirectly, 2010 was on him - given that it was Frank Bush who screwed the pooch with the defense. However, Kubiak took that blame, and I can't see a two year swing in his approach. At the end of the day, when discussing things with the media, Kubiak will always defer to "It's on me, I didn't put them in a position to make plays," when discussing poor outings.

I'm actually kind of glad to see Kubiak take on a lesser "coddling" role, to be honest. Think about it - over the course of Kubs tenure, he's been quick to call these players "kids" and would do TOO much to protect them. In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen Kubiak challenge these players. Now, whether or not he's done so in the past is a mystery to me. I've heard Vandy and Lopez talk about times where he's completely reamed players on the practice field and in film study, behind closed doors (Lopez recalled a story with Trindon Holliday, when Kubiak completely lost his cool, grabbed Holliday by the facemask, started to scream at Holliday and finished off with a "GET THE HELL OFF MY DAMN FIELD!" to the KR specialist). This right here - an instance in which he says "YOU'RE NOT KIDS, GROW A DAMN PAIR AND PLAY SOME FOOTBALL!" is a far cry from what we've seen from Kubiak in the past.

Might be what this team needs at this stage in their growth. These aren't kids anymore, and it doesn't look like Kubs is treating them like kids anymore._________________

Umm both loses this year were butt kickings and had nothing to do with Kubiak letting up and not going for the throat. He was in the right players need to look in the mirror. Its not coaching when teams get there butt handed to them the way the Texans did Monday night.

Exactly, those reason AA gave have nothing to do with those two games._________________

I love it. I'm usually quick to demand the "kick over the watercooler" tirade, but Kubiak's cool demeanor and personal accountability lends instant credibility and attention when he finally does call them out. As I said in another thread, the Pats game can ultimately be the catalyst for our Super Bowl run as it shined a light on our deficiencies that could keep us from the big prize and ended any denial or "but we still won" justification as if that matters when the Jacksonville offense goes off on you. It is better to have clarity now vs. a similar playoff blowout where we spend the entire offseason compiling the needs list or the "if only's". We have fewer glaring needs than any team in the league other than New England and Denver right now, but we don't get past either of them if we don't fix several aspects of our team and I'm a bit concerned that Balt will get things figured out on offense and become a legit threat again as well. I sure hope we aren't just assuming we can beat Denver because of our week 3 win. Clearly Peyton was still not quite Peyton the first 5 weeks of the season where they went 2-3 losing to the 3 best teams in the league (Atlanta, NE, Texans). They are 8-0 since and Peyton NEVER had a defense like theirs in Indy.

As for Kubiak, I reject any concept that the Green Bay and New England blowouts were exclusively on the players. That championship mentality includes not allowing injuries to be an excuse and every friggin season we act as if we are somehow different than other teams in the league, when the reality is that our injuries are far less significant than most. The Packers destroyed us with Randall Cobb and Alex Green, not Jennings and Benson and the Pats killed us without their primary offensive weapon in Gronk, a WR who will have 1 63 yards TD against us as his only stat this season, and a patchwork secondary that lost three Corners in our game alone. Seriously, when #3 TE Garrett Graham's absence is deemed critical, we are officially full of crap against a team that has lost both Gronk and Hernandez for huge stretches.

It is on Gary and Rick that our depth at Corner & WR remains so pathetic as they have either picked the wrong guys or failed to adequately develop the ones they did draft as the league abounds with CBs & WRs that impact in their first two seasons. There is not a Texan fan around that didn't see Alan Ball's presence on this roster as indicative of a depth problem or question Devier Posey's ability to be of any use to us this year. I'm not a big Aqib Talib guy, but a "championship team" made that deal happen while we still have Roc Carmichael on our roster. You can't get em all right, but it's maddening to see guys like Danario Alexander going nuts when clearly we had a massive need for a big deep threat yet we get another year of buying into Lestar Jean as a breakout candidate. Clearly they whiffed on their RT strategy and again, it is ridiculous that we are blaming anything on an injury to a 7th round tackle who was already being benched. Every team has its shortcomings, but RT, WR2, and CB were all clearly evident and the solutions Smithiak came up with flopped.

I agree that many of the "stars" on this team needed to have their manhood challenged and frankly that starts with Schaub/AJ/Arian who were all flat from the get go and seemed pretty quick to throw in the towel, but all the yelling in the world won't make Brandon Harris fast enough to cover anyone deep, Ryan Harris powerful enough to handle a bull rush, or Lestar Jean fast enough to separate at the NFL level. Changes need to happen between now and the playoffs and it's not just attitudes._________________

This kind of press conference will not do a thing. If anyone thinks that the players' performance will change because of a few words said at a press conference, they don't understand locker room dynamics. This stuff is said for show, so that the media will have an easy story line for when the team continues to play well going into the future._________________
Sig by matthouston91

This kind of press conference will not do a thing. If anyone thinks that the players' performance will change because of a few words said at a press conference, they don't understand locker room dynamics. This stuff is said for show, so that the media will have an easy story line for when the team continues to play well going into the future.

It wasn't a contrived press conference. It was players (including players who have been to Super Bowls like Manning and Smith) talking about the content of Kubiak's post-game rant which was significant in that it officially pointed the finger directly at them which is a complete tendency breaker for a coach that always finds the smallest positives to pump up and points the finger at himself even when everyone knows exactly who screwed up. If you don't think teams and players take on the personality of their coach you haven't watch Brady as cold and calculated as Belichick or the Jets as cocky and arrogant as Ryan (and how that can catch up with you). If you don't think that leadership and motivational tactics are vital, you haven't seen the Eagles fall apart despite all the talent on that roster or Jim Harbaugh dominate with essentially the same roster that flopped under Nolan and Singletary as he finally melded substance with attitude.

His tone after the Green Bay loss was appropriate as he pretty much brushed it off and just got everyone back to work. This time he knows this team is fading and has been since the bye week and waiting until a second loss this week would threaten our entire season as it almost ensures a trip to Denver or New England in January. He needs to have the most focused week of the season this week and have them team breathing fire this week instead of essentially losing from the coin flip as Antonio Smith put it. I agree that over the course of the season, motivational stuff begins to fall on deaf ears, but the great coaches know how to patiently wait for those few moments a season when ratcheting up the rhetoric is warranted and could get a few players to do those one or two extra things that can be the difference between winning and losing. JJ Watt has been in that zone all season, but if someone else was on that defense maybe we fall on two fumbles inside our 5 and that's a very different game. I didn't see any Patriots taking any plays off in that game even with a big lead.

I saw our hall of fame WR taking two steps forward and not even offering token blocking effort on running plays and I don't care how many yards he got over the past month, his lack of intensity has been a problem throughout his career in big games AND when he goes up against top corners. If he's going to pull that crap against Alfonzo Dennard I guess we'll just plan for Champ Bailey holding him to 2 catches again (or Antonio Cromartie for that matter) or watch Ed Reed pick off passes he doesn't bother to knock down to give his QB another shot like in the playoffs last year. Sorry Andre, look across the field at what Wes Welker brings on EVERY DOWN despite holding virtually no physical advantage on anyone tasked with covering him and look in the damn mirror at what you brought this week which may have produced a serviceable stat line but you contributed little to the result. For goodness sakes, AJ has 3 freaking touchdowns this season to show for all of those yards which puts him on equal footing with our FB and #3 TE. I pick on AJ, just to illustrate how NOBODY on this team (aside from JJ Watt) is beyond reproach or being called out for needing to find that extra gear, especially this week. Larry Fitzgerald carried his team to a Super Bowl a few years back and if AJ wants to be remembered as one of the all-time greats, he needs to do more than put up monster numbers against crappy teams going nowhere like Jags, Bills, and Lions, but actually be THE REASON we beat the best teams in the league which we simply never have done.

AJ represented us at that coin toss alongside JJ Watt & Smith. Kubiak is 100% correct as for all of Andre's talent he has no real place in the same Hall of Fame Tom Brady will go into until he brings that kind of ability to be at his best against the best and on the biggest stages. As much as I hate to reference a Cowboy in a positive light, AJ will likely pass Michael Irvin's career numbers next year but until he starts putting his stamp on the games that really matter, his legacy will be a better behaved Chad Johnson or Keshawn Johnson and ultimately still a few notches behind his Miami teammate Reggie Wayne. His ability to take another step forward comes this week where he needs to play better than Wayne, not to mention Hilton and Avery. If you can't dominate Darius Butler and Vontae Davis it's time to just concede that the Colts will again dominate this division as they all but conceded that this year was about rebuilding the offense before fixing the defense next year. I don't understand the level of comfort most Texan fans have with us being better than the Colts when just a few weeks ago we weren't but a play or two better than the 2 win Jags or 4 win Lions better yet a 9 win Colts team that beat the Packers the week before they killed us and are 7-1 in the past two months with their only loss coming against the Patriots._________________

For once Apollo I agree with your rants. The team feeds off its leader in Kubiak and his inability to win big games is embarrassing. The Packers AND Patriots games were huge games and we came out TERRIBLE, thats lack of focus in the spotlight, instead of being a leader he let the "kids" run loose all week gloating about their cool jackets like high school jocks and they were c0cky about having the best record in the AFC and felt they won something, the reality is, they haven't won anything, they are not as good as the top teams and the coach lost his teams focus last week. Its squarely on his shoulders because he LET IT HAPPEN, I love the jackets, but they could have been created in the off-season.

Notice our team focused on cool jackets while the Patriots focus on game film and practice? For instance, Vince Wilfork went home after the beat down and did not celebrate, he studied game film for the Niners. Thats the make of champions......

As for our stars not contributing, I agree, it seems like AJ gets "depressed" if we're not doing well and not throwing it to him, he won't comment on it or make a scene, but his body language suggests he is done trying for the night. It happens a few times a season, I look for him to bounce back strongly, because he typically does throughout history. Foster has been struggling to break long runs all season and this is disturbing, it looks like he has misplaced his vision. He runs into the pile more than I ever remember. Tate needs to get a few extra reps to be that change up guy for a bit.

Matt really lets us down this week, our defense struggled sure, but they did tighten up in the middle of the game, our offense just failed to produce and kept having short drives causing our defense to get get tired and break down at the end. Matt was off from the start and even Gruden noticed it. If we are going to win the big one, Matt will have to carry this team in the post-season. Not Foster, not Andre, not our defense, MATT SCHAUB will have to. Im not sure he can.....

For once Apollo I agree with your rants. The team feeds off its leader in Kubiak and his inability to win big games is embarrassing. The Packers AND Patriots games were huge games and we came out TERRIBLE, thats lack of focus in the spotlight, instead of being a leader he let the "kids" run loose all week gloating about their cool jackets like high school jocks and they were c0cky about having the best record in the AFC and felt they won something, the reality is, they haven't won anything, they are not as good as the top teams and the coach lost his teams focus last week. Its squarely on his shoulders because he LET IT HAPPEN, I love the jackets, but they could have been created in the off-season.

Notice our team focused on cool jackets while the Patriots focus on game film and practice? For instance, Vince Wilfork went home after the beat down and did not celebrate, he studied game film for the Niners. Thats the make of champions......

As for our stars not contributing, I agree, it seems like AJ gets "depressed" if we're not doing well and not throwing it to him, he won't comment on it or make a scene, but his body language suggests he is done trying for the night. It happens a few times a season, I look for him to bounce back strongly, because he typically does throughout history. Foster has been struggling to break long runs all season and this is disturbing, it looks like he has misplaced his vision. He runs into the pile more than I ever remember. Tate needs to get a few extra reps to be that change up guy for a bit.

Matt really lets us down this week, our defense struggled sure, but they did tighten up in the middle of the game, our offense just failed to produce and kept having short drives causing our defense to get get tired and break down at the end. Matt was off from the start and even Gruden noticed it. If we are going to win the big one, Matt will have to carry this team in the post-season. Not Foster, not Andre, not our defense, MATT SCHAUB will have to. Im not sure he can.....

One post-game speech is not going to change the attitude of players. Do y'all honestly think players will value what Kubiak said in that one speech more than their contracts, livelihoods, legacy, and will to win? Yes, teams take on the attitudes of their coaches, but that is instilled over the course of years and seasons, not in a post-game speech. Speaking as a college football player, I never once considered anything a coach told me as motivation to go out and perform better, in practice or in games. It's just nowhere near as important as playing time, will to succeed, work ethic, etc. One speech is not going to change the way players play.

And if you think the jackets took away from film study or other preparations, you're something I'm not allowed to call you on this forum. This is the NFL, not high school._________________
Sig by matthouston91

The team feeds off its leader in Kubiak and his inability to win big games is embarrassing. The Packers AND Patriots games were huge games and we came out TERRIBLE, thats lack of focus in the spotlight, instead of being a leader he let the "kids" run loose all week gloating about their cool jackets like high school jocks and they were c0cky about having the best record in the AFC and felt they won something, the reality is, they haven't won anything, they are not as good as the top teams and the coach lost his teams focus last week. Its squarely on his shoulders because he LET IT HAPPEN, I love the jackets, but they could have been created in the off-season.

Big games are not won by the coaches.
Do you think the Reason MJ and Kobe teams win the big games is because of their coach.The players need to step up in big games, their is only so much a coach can do.
And BTW we had similar yardage and time of possession as the Patriots, just our lack of execution of those playes was the difference, and of course Tom Brady is a big game player.

amazingandre wrote:

Notice our team focused on cool jackets while the Patriots focus on game film and practice? For instance, Vince Wilfork went home after the beat down and did not celebrate, he studied game film for the Niners. Thats the make of champions......

might as well fire all our coaches then, because they do nothing, its all on the players.....

Tell that to Cam Cameron

This doesn't make sense as an argument.

The difference between good coaches and great coaches is generally X's and O's--good coaches make better in-game decisions more consistently than bad ones. The difference between great coaches and good coaches is generally in vision of the program and execution of the small details. This is created over time with expectations and clear communication. While some coaches generally do not follow this mold (I think Andy Reid and Gary Kubiak are both good coaches who have succeeded because of vision for the program while in-game decisions hold them back from becoming great), I'd say this is the case for the majority of coaches._________________
Sig by matthouston91